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The jet dryer hit by Juan Pablo Montoya during the Daytona 500 was based at Michigan International Speedway and driven by a Michigan man. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Juan Pablo Montoya's claim to fame at Michigan International Speedway used to be his white-knuckle victory over Michael Andretti at the second-to-last CART open-wheel race in 2000.

The wheel-to-wheel duel in Brooklyn, Mich., over the final dozen or so laps with Andretti was Montoya's Michigan legacy. His legacy, however, took an unexpected hard turn to the left when Montoya lost control of his car during a late caution period at this year's Daytona 500. He ended up hitting a service vehicle--a jet drier--from the MIS fleet on loan to Daytona International Speedway and driven by Michigan resident Duane Barnes.

It was a wonder no one was hurt in the accident and fiery explosion.

Montoya is at MIS this week as part of a two-day Goodyear tire test that also included NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. Montoya tweeted about the Daytona incident and his trip to Michigan the day before hitting the newly paved two-mile oval.

“It's pouring here in Michigan and we need a jet drier. I know they used to have one, but somebody blew it up,” Montoya posted on his Twitter page.

Montoya was asked about the tweet during a break in testing at MIS on Wednesday.

“I really thought about it for 10 minutes, should I do it or not,” Montoya said. “There's always somebody who is going to take it the wrong way. I even called my wife and asked, ‘What do you think of this?' “

Barnes has declined to be interviewed about the accident.

“I talked to him after the incident,” Montoya said. “It's one of those deals where you're just happy that everybody's OK. You look back at the accident. I'm not too surprised that I'm here, but I'm surprised that he's here. It's good for our families, and it's good for our sport. I think we move on, and you hope that things like that don't happen. It was just a freak accident.”

Mike Pryson
- Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and M-Live Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek as online motorsports editor In 2012.
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